Modeling Agility in the Supply Chain

In this project a tool has been developed for use in analyzing supply chains and establishing overall pictures of the supply chain. The supply chain models are constructed primarily from the viewpoint of agile manufacturing by means of a robust set of characteristics and metrics which together reflect agility.The tool and model deal with customer - supplier characteristics such as: · The Agility -- along four strategic dimensions -- of the companies in the supply chain.· The economic importance -- value adding -- for each individual company in the supply chain.· The use of Information Technology (IT), in terms of breadth of information exchanged, sophistication and interoperability.· The strength and durability of relationships among companies in the supply chain.· Material flow in the supply chain.· Cash flow in the supply chain.· Lead times and on time delivery in the supply chainThe front end of the modeling process employs a simple, and easy to implement, template for characterizing a supply chain. The initial application of the modeling tool focuses on companies that deal with engineered products. This has enabled us to include the multidirectional flow of engineering knowledge, information, and data between companies in a supply chain. The tool enables the production of three complementary "pictures" of the supply chain as described below: 1. An overall view of the supply chain including indices on the client, customer and vendor companies regarding relative value added to the supply chain, relationship, Agility and IT-level. The links are described and indexed with respect to the IT-capability level of the link.2. A view describing detailed information flow within the supply chain.3. A view defining the flow of material and money in the supply chain.In addition to the diagrams, detailed reports are generated regarding business characteristics of the individual companies, as well as the total supply chain.